That is, if testing shows the creams to be effective then the manufacturers are subject to costly regulations, and if they are shown to be ineffective then the manufacturers have to admit that they are conning their customers. Thus the manufacturers have no incentive to fund the testing of the efficacy of their own products. They chose to keep their heads firmly in the sand.

However, what has not yet been pointed out is that each manufacturer has a strong incentive to fund tests on its competitor's products. I wonder if there is a simple way to trigger an outbreak of such competitive cross-testing?